The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-04
TWO YEARS AFLOAT.
Captain Phelps Tells How He Sailed
the Brunhilde Round the World.
From the Me,o York Herald.

From the Ne,o York Herald
Early in the year of grace 1885 half dozen
Vale graduates put their heads together and
consulted how they could perfect their edu-
cation in the pleasantest possible manner be-
fore beginning in earnest the serious bust
ness of life. After much confab John j.
Phelps proposed that they should take a trip
round the world, and not by means of rail-
roads or steamers, or oven steam yacht,
Int. as the ancient mariners used 20 go, in an
honest, manageable, first-class sailing yacht.
This proposal being unanimously accepted.
Mr.. Phelps had a yacht built and invited
his friends to accompany him on his trip.
SO it came to pass that the yacht Brun-
hide was launched on April 90, 1885, and
left this city on June IA of the same year,
having on board her captain and owner,
John J. Phelps, his travelling companions
and a competent crew. Yesterday morn
ING the Brlnhilde anchored off Bay Ridge,
after voyage which had lasted more than
two years and which. was memorable in
many respects.
TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Capt. John j. Phelps, a russell bearded,
plain spoken, very affable gentleman, was
seen by a reporter yesterday soon after the
Yacht arrived. His father, William Walter
Phelps, had just greeted him, and several
friends were congratulating him on his
successful voyage When the reporter in
troduced himself he courteously left his
friends at once and plunged into a nara
tive of what he had seen and done during
his absence.
Five of my friends left New York with
me- he began, land their names are A. f.
Svlnington, Kier Mitchell, H. H. Strong,
Charles Halsey and T. r. Hillard. We
went first to the races at New London,
@l,o,, I'LL o., IT,
land, where we attended the regatta.
Thence we sailed by Boulogne to Cherbourg,
and there Mr.. Halsey left us. Returning to
CowoS we hired two officers and made for
the Mediterranean. In the Bay of Biscay
bad gale struck us, and the same gale by the
way, nearly sunk British gunboat I'm
fortunately we touched at Cadiz, and as
there was cholera there were quarantined
at Tanjers and Gibraltar, and actually de
tanned four days at Oran, in Africa. When
we got off we sailed for Malta and encoun-
tered frightful sirocco on the way, From
Malta. where we were also quarantined, we
went to Alexandria and Cairo, and spent a
very pleasant week going up the Nile in
dahabeahs Then we came down to Port
Said and were lowed through the Suez
canal to Suez.
STORMS AND PIRATES.
''Then we had a hard time of it going
down the Red Sea. We were being lowed
by a.steamer and had gone two-thirds of the
way when a terrible storm broke. 1t tore
away our bowsprit, jibboom and foretop-
mast and broke two 6-inch hawsers that
connected us with the steamer. OF course
we were driven loose, and it took us many
hours to get our deck clear. Our next stop
ping place was IebelZakir, and we had good
snipe shooting there for four days Then
we went on by Alden to Bombay, and as we
ofpS
captured by pirates. 1t was night when we
saw them in big boat quite close to us, and
there was nothing we could do but show
them our heels They were trying their
best to range alongside, and it was the ut
most we could do to get away from them.
eve spent month at Bombay and then
went on to Ceylon and Hong Kong, and
thence 10 Yokohama, where we stayed a
month. When we left there we sailed for
San Francisco and arrived in thirty days,
beating a tea clipper by ten days. Good
run, wasn't it! We overhauled the yacht
at San Francisco and then spent six weeks
cruising among the Sandwich Islands and
three at Tahiti Our next trip was to Juan
Fernandez, where, being short of provisions,
we had to satisfy ourselves with a goat and
twelve potatoes, which we secured ON the
island, and thence we sailed for Valparaiso
which we left on Feb. of this year, after
being month there.
SAILING ROUND THE HORN
''What we did next is something 1 am
really proud of. We ran around the Horn
to the Falkland Islands, and | believe mine
is the only sailing yacht that has ever done
so. Such vessels, as you know, fight shy of
the Horn. Well, we next visited Monte
video, Buenos Ayres. Rio Janeiro and many
other places, until we finally came to Ber-
muda, whence we crossed over to New
York.
Mr.. Hillard and Mr.. c. G. Clark arc the
only two of my companions who have come
home with me- Mr.. Clark | might have
told you, Joined us at Barbados. Mr.
Symington left us at Hong Kong, Mr..
Mitchell at Yokohama, Mr.. Strong at San
Francisco and Mr.. Halsey at CherbouIg.
And now, goodby, as my friends arc wait
ing for me-
The dimensions of the BiJnhilde are as
follows: Length, liz feet; beam, 26 feet;
draught ll.6 feet Her tonnage is 119. She
Is schooner rugged and carries square yard,
and is equipped with three boats and Il
small launch. Her crew comprises ten men
before the mast, two cooks, two stewards a
boat,wain and two mates. She still carries
the same sails that were on her when she
was launched more than two years ago.
Though she has passed through several
storms, including a typhoon i'll the China
Sea, she has suffered no serious damage.
Capt Phelps is uncertain whether he will
lay her up for the present or take her to
Nantucket, where his people are staying for
the summer
Capt. Phelps is a member of the New
York Yacht Club, tho New Haven Yacht
Club and Tho AtIantir Yacht Cluh